Tales of the Violii
by AsanoShinsei
Summary: Nearly 2100 years ago lived a family. This family was the Violii. Shizuru Viola Fujino with commands from the senate of Rome is sent into the mountains of Gaul. What she finds there is nothing but death and destruction by the hand of The Hound of Duran. An ancient Rome fic. Eventual Shiznat possible MaiMikoto and OOC warning but not often. Rating may rise as story progresses.-チズ
1. Prologue

**TALES OF THE VIOLII **

**DIES SOLIS ID. MART. DCCXVII DCCX AUC ***

**PROLOGUE**

**AN: With this story I will try to be as most historically accurate as possible but this is not always possible seeing I am a 16 year old girl not a historian , R/R and enjoy.  
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The year is 44 BCE. 31 year old Shizuru Viola Fujino sits in her usual seat amongst the Senatus Populusque Romanus. Today it seems it would be the day they finally put Marcus Junius Brutus' plan into action. The plan to kill Caesar. The dealings begin as usual with a consul going to speak at the podium and blabber on about many things, from Greeks to Gauls. 'How many of my fellow men subject themselves to devoting their entire lives to a joke as big as this Senate. I always find it...amusing that they think that their opinions matter.' Shizuru rolls her eyes and looks towards Gaius Julius Caesar at the back of the room sitting next to his friend Brutus. She chuckles inside her mind. 'If only that man knew that he was going to die.'

As if to respond to her thoughts the consul calls Caesar to the stand and as he walks to the stand all of the senators including herself rise and rush him each stabbing him at least once. Brutus is the last to come forth and stab him. "Forgive me friend." He says to which Caeser responds. "Et tu Brute?" his parting words.

Shizuru although seemingly calm on the inside she is very nervous with thoughts of 'How are we going to get away with this' and the like but settles down when she thinks 'the people can't do anything against the senate.' she goes back to her seat amongst the fellow senators.

As two legionaries drag Caesars body off the stand the consul goes back up. "On to the problem of the Germanians. " he says as though nothing happened. "They have been left alone for far too long. I move to send 10 centuries* to the heart of Germania. All those who say I." The room erupts into I's. The elderly man smiles with a power hungry grin. "The I's have it. I move to extend responsibility to the House of Violii. All those who say I." The room erupts into I's again.

Shizuru becomes nervous. Her elder brother Reito is off on military duties and she is the only avaliable capable military leader in her family. She stands to make a speech. "I move to span the responsibility to the Scipii or the Brutii families, their power and wealth is much greater than the Violii, a weak noble class family. All those who say I." Some say I but most definitely not a 2/3 majority. The Scipii senator Nagi Dai Artai stands.

He walks slowly to the center of the room as if trying to be frightening.

"I move to reject the proposal suggested by the Violii as she is the only avaliable general from the Violii and I along with many other senators believe she is just being a frightened rat. Unwilling to fight those discusting, uncivilized, barbarians. All those who wish to veto the proposal say I." The pro-consul stands up and holds his elderly hand up. The other senators stare in awe.

"The pro-consul stands! The decision is final, Shizuru Viola Fujino will lead 10 centuries into the forests of Germania. This senate is adjourned." One of the Consuls says and walks down from the podium and back into the evening air of the city of Rome.

After all the other Senators have left Shizuru stands alone in the Emperor's palace hall. She sighs audiably. "Why must I be the one to go...for I fear...The Hound of Duran..." She walks out into the city and begins to walk home, alone.

Nearly 200 miles away in the Germanian capitol 10 Hand Chosen Warlords sit around a fire with the local elders. Among the Warlords is Natsuki Kruger, a fearsome female Cheiftan from the Mountains just above the Roman Empire. She sits impatiently around the sacred circle of Donar waiting for the Cheiftan elder to speak. He breaths out as if he is going to speak and they all simultaneously lean forward. He says nothing and they lean back.

One Warlord finally speaks up. "Elder, why have you called us here today?" The man is older and speaks with a northern accent, obviously from the Saxons. The elders turn to face him calmly. It appears as though they are finally going to speak.

"The Eagles Empire..." He breathes out. "The Eagles Empire has reached out its talons for our lands..." He pauses.

Natsuki leans in so she can hear better. 'The Romans are coming...' She thinks to herself.

The elder continues to speak. "They have threatened us for nearly two centuries now, and we have defeated them at every turn, however now they send 8000 men in our direction. Now is the time to destroy them, for once they reach over the mountains we will not be able to defeat them." He finishes his speech and allows the Warlords to debate.

Rad Il Aswad begins to speak. "The Romans...They think too much of themselves. They look down upon us." He looks around the circle. "I suggest that we send our most elite units from each of the tribes." He looks at Natsuki.

Natsuki looks back at him her usual scowl in place. "Why don't we send the Hounds of Calhoon? From the Lombardi tribes." She suggests quietly. Sergei Wong. A man from the Frankish tribes looks at her strangely.

He goes to speak. "The Wolfhounds of the Frankish tribes are much better suited for this job. The Hounds of Calhoon are too wild and uncontrollable. They are berserkers not an elite force." He argues. The Saxon leader stands and shouts at him.

"You are all behaving like idiots. The Sacred Band of Saxony is the only way you will even come close to victory." He makes animated hand gestures when he speaks.

Another Warcheif stands and tackles him to the ground. They fight for a few minutes before anyone even bothers to pull them apart from each other. "Stop fighting!" The elder shouts. "You are behaving like worthless children, now sit so we can discuss how to defend our homeland." He goes back to his normal state.

Natsuki leans back and crosses her arms. She scans the room once again. 'There are too many representatives here to make an accurate judgement...' She looks over at the Aswad warlord. He seems to be in deep contemplation. After several minutes of sitting silently he finally speaks up. "Why not the Hound of Duran and his warriors." He suggests. Everyone is silent for a moment. The Saxon cheif who spoke earlier stands.

"That is nearly impossible. The Hound of Duran has never shown his face to anyone, no one has ever even spoke directly to him." He makes a fine point. "The only way to contact him will take months and that is to request a consul with the Wolfcubs." He sits back down. The Elder raises his hand to quiet the circle.

"We must come up with another solution. It will take them roughly 8 months to even cross the mountains into Gaul. From there we will stage a major ambush of the entire Roman army, my spies tell me this mission will be carried out by the daughter of Vicus Viola Fujino, Shizuru Viola Fujino. " Natsuki snaps her head up at the name. 'I've heard that somewhere before...but where?...' she stares into space trying to put a face to the name. "I want her head brought to me on a silver platter. The tribe that does so will be greatly rewarded." The High King who has been silent through the entire meeting finally speaks ending the meeting. The warlords bow and stand to leave. Natsuki stays behind. The High King stands to approach her, he stops directly in front of her. "Kruger... I think you know what to do." Natsuki nods. "As you wish my King." She leaves into the woods.

The King sighs. "That one...she is trouble... too young to be a great leader. Yet somehow she is." He speaks to his elder. "The Helveti never did show." He sighs again. "It will be a very very long few years Abaris." He smiles at his elder. The elder nods.

"That it will my son." He speaks in his airy voice.

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**DIES SOLIS ID. MART. DCCXVII DCCX AUC: ** This if I am not mistaken stands for 15th of March Year 44 BCE or 710 AUC using the roman calender.

So tell me how bad it was. Seriously though guys if you would review I would send you cookies in the mail. packaged in an envelope.

Thanks R/R -Chizu


	2. Unnecessary Violence

**TALES OF THE VIOLII**

**AN: Thank you guys that reviewed the first chapter of Tales of the Violii it means a ton to me. Thank you, enjoy and R/R**

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Shizuru had not gotten proper sleep for nearly four days. The harsh mountain regions would make most proper men of the Roman Empire fall to their knees at beg the Gods for a quick death, and sadly Shizuru Viola Fujino was no different. The Roman Legion had been marching for nearly six months already and morale was progressively decreasing. Be it from the snow storms that constantly ravaged the lands to the bandit raids that occured almost periodically, three in just the past month. Of the original 8000 legionaries only 7200 remained.

Shizuru rides around her exhausted troops on her white horse, in her golden armor she looked like a goddess of sorts, or she would, if she didn't look like she was about to pass out on the ground. She does one last look around before dismounting her horse. "Okay men! fortify for the night, Caligula you're first on guard duty." She calls out to the first century who repeats the message to the other cohorts.

She sighs. '_I despise the life of a military commander so. I haven't bathed in nearly 4 months.'_ Shizuru scans the area once again, giving every detail careful attention as she was accustomed, from two men chatting to the artillery men dismantling their onagers and ballistae. She turns her military adviser, Yukino, who appears to be doing the same thing she is although she seems awfully secluded, surrounded by the dark trees. _'That is quite odd.' _Shizuru questions the suspicious actions of her adviser in her head. She almost silently creeps up on her from the side and hides in the bushes.

A blonde female Bestarii Gladiatrix* steps out of the shadows of the trees in the grove and moves to approach Yukino from behind, Shizuru out of instinct draws her bronze sword. The Gladiatrix taps Yukino on the shoulder and steps back as if waiting for a reaction, which she soon gets when Yukino whirls around to face her with a guarding stance raised. She drops this almost as quickly as it was raised. "Haruka!" She exclaims excitedly. The Gladiatrix, Haruka, responds to her by wrappinng her arms around the short haired brunette and kissing her softly at first until Yukino throws her arms around Harukas neck and makes them fall down onto the dew coated grass.

Shizuru could not believe her eyes. A slave and a nobel, caught in such a romantic entanglement. In sheer surprise Shizuru audiably gasps and takes a step backwards where she ends up stepping on a stick causing it to crack loudly. Shizuru stands up in panic and turns to run but stops at the couple frightful eyes staring up at her.

Yukino nearly jumps off the Gladiatrix and frantically pleads to Shizuru. "Please General do not say a word to anyone about us." She has unshead tears waiting to be spilled in her eyes. " I beg of you," She bows down and starts kissing Shizuru's leather sandals, covering her already filthy deep purple and white stola in mud. Shizuru stares down at her with a look of disbelief, which quickly turns into a glare. "Strategus, stand and explain yourself." She demands in a harsh tone. Yukino starts to stand but cannot find the strength to do so. Shizuru scoffs. "How many times are you planning to disappoint me Strategus? First you decide to hop into bed with a slave and now you are not even strong enough to stand up." She kicks her in the solar plexus. "I hope you understand the severity of your crime, were I any other commander I may just kill you here and now. Since I am such a kind commander I think a beating will suffice. " She kicks Yukino in the head knocking her over.

She turns her head slowly. "As for you Slave." She approches Haruka. "State your name and nationality." She commands. Haruka stands and glares at Shizuru. "Haruka..." She pauses and grinds her teeth and bites her lip hard enough to where it bleeds. " Haruka Armitage." She leers at her with her teeth gritted. Shizuru grins almost savagely. "As in the Topaz Knight of Macedonia? Gods you are far too cruel to this poor soul, first she looses her Empire and now. Her life." She swings her sword at Haruka who dodges it and punches Shizuru in the nose. The sickening sound of bone cracking echos into the night as Shizuru stumbles to the ground and fades from consciousness.

Haruka rushes over to Yukino. "Yuki?! Yuki wake up." She holds Yukino close to her well endowed chest. Yukino stirs softly and turns her head to face Haruka. She smiles. "I'm alright Haruka. I'm alright." She says weakly.

Haruka holds her even tighter. "Thank the gourds." She picks up Yukino bridal style. Yukino chuckles. "It's Gods Haruka. ""That's what I said Yukino." She runs off into the forest.

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Several hours later Shizuru awakes to the sound of shouting and swords clashing. She jolts up and looks around. _'Where...am I?' _She wipes the water from the rain out of her eyes. She turns and faces the east. "It's morning." She states obviously. The sound of metal clashing gets closer. She darts around just as a fur clad man wearing an iron mask jumps from the bush swinging an ax at Shizuru. _"swulta-wairthja wisan!*" _The man shouts and dives at her again. She dodges and rolls to her sword about 15 ft away. The muddy water in the grass splashes up into her honey coloured hair and she brushes it out of her face leaving traces of mud on her face looking like the barbarians war paint.

The man goes in for another charge just as Shizuru reaches her sword but not quickly enough, the man swings his double edged battle ax down over Shizuru head narrowly missing. She sees the oppourtunity and knees the warrior in the gut forcing him off of her. She kicks her bronze sword into her hand and takes up a fighting stance just as he recovers and is ready to strike again. Shizuru turns and runs to where she believes the rest of her military is. She comes out right into the middle of her legionaries clashing shields with the iron masked barbarian horde. She looks around quickly and runs to find her horse.

When she comes upon her horse the poor creature has several dozen arrows stuck in its sides, Shizuru is furious now, her white horse of the rarest and best upbringing laying dead at her feet. She whips herself around at approaching horses, enemy horses. She braces herself for impact but it never comes. _'What it this treachary?' _She raises her head above her arms to see why she is still alive. Her expression brightens immediatly. _'Triarii.' _She walks to her spearmen and grabs the spear from a fallen soldier. "Ready men! Form the Phalanx." She commands her troops fighting off the enemy cavalry. They do as told presenting their deadly wall of pikes to their enemy. One by one horse riders fall against the spiked wall of death leaving a mountain of bodies. Only one rider remains. A the warrior, a female, steps down from her horse and calmly approaches her opposers. Her black and brown wolf pelts soaked in blood and her raven colored hair spilling out from behind her golden mask she raises her hands as if to surrender. Shizuru pushes to the front of her troops. "Who is that fool!?" She demands from the cohorts leader. He looks fearful as does the rest of his unit and ignores Shizuru's call.

Shizuru surveys her men quickly. "What is the matter with you men? You all look as if the Ferryman has come for you." She asks with no response again. The color drains from her face when she spots the flag rising just behind the rider. The wolfs head painted with white on the dark canvas with chains represents one thing, and one thing only. "The Hound of Duran!" One of the Triarii screams at the top of his lungs causing a panic to rise amongst her men. They slowly back up tripping over a body occassionaly however this does not stay, the mens' panic finally reaches its max and they drop their weapons and run as fast as they can knocking Shizuru over.

Shizuru watches the Wolfhounds approach slowly as she blacks out for the second time in the same day. _'Jupiter...protect me...' _

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**AN**: I hope you guys enjoy reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it. Im really not sure if I like the HaruKino bit at the beginning, but Im leaving it. As for the battle scene, I liked the way it turned out for my first one. :)

Dictionary:

Onagers: Catapult like artillery named after the wild asses near Rome because of the way they buck

Ballistae: Plural form of Ballista. A large crossbow that was mostly used as like a primitive cannon, aimed at infantry to skewer many in one shot.

Bestarii Gladiatrix: A female gladiator that handled beasts to use against his opponent or other animals, can also mean a gladiator who fights animals

_"swulta-wairthja wisan!*: Rough translation of Gaulish meaning: Death comes quickly._

Thanks again for reading this, R/R -Chizu_  
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	3. Just a little abuse

**AfTALES OF THE VIOLII**

**HAVE THE GODS FORSAKEN ME?**

**AN: Thanks you guys who reviewed the second chapter. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Please R/R this chapter too. -Chizu**

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Shizuru awakes to the sound of a hammer striking metal. _'Where am I?'_ She looks around wearily and sees she isn't on the ground. She starts to panic struggling to get away from her binds. She desperatley twists her arm so far it cracks out of socket. She cries out in pain alerting her captors she has regained consciousness. Several men wearing furs and iron masks come close to her and stand in a rough circle around her. Her panic deepens. "Let me go you worthless bastards!" She screams at them fiercely through gritted teeth. They chuckle at her misery as if to taunt her. A single young woman walks up with her short hair bobbed. She is not wearing a mask, or furs for that matter. Her orange hair gives her a strange appearance not familiar to Shizuru. Her off white toga gives the appearance of a Roman. "State your name." She demands in perfect Latin.

Shizuru is taken aback. _'A slave...? A runaway slave?' _She stares her in the eyes. They are blank with hatred and rage. "I...I am Viola Shizuru..." She says exhausted. She coughs up a soupy mixture of blood and chyme getting it all over her tunic and skin. She starts to black out again but is greeted with a riding crop to the face. She grunts in pain and spits out more blood.

The woman from before says something in a strange language, not gaulish, or any other language Shizuru was familiar with. One man runs off and the others free Shizuru from her binds and she falls down on the ground face first, she struggles to her feet and the same woman approaches. "Come with me." She says in a soft stern voice. Sizuru looks at her glaring. "Why should I comply with a runaway slave." She says trying to keep her pride visible. The orange haired woman slaps her across the cheek with a wooden club knocking her to the ground again. Shizuru coughs and sprawls across the ground rolling over just to be met with a fur boot to the face, and then another to the back and another to her stomach. She lets out a small scream as the last man stomps on her head and picks her up throwing her over his shoulder.

The orange haired woman smiles seemingly kind dispite the events that had just occoured. She pats Shizuru on the back. "There there misguided child of Mars. Your life will end as quickly as it began." She chuckles and returns to the front of the line.

The man who was carrying Shizuru tosses her on the ground in front of some kind of a throne in the middle of a wooden hut much larger than all the others. She lifts her head and stares at the fur shoes ahead of her. Her heart rises to fill her throat when she sees a sword bigger than any sword she had ever even seen being dragged across the floor. She scrambles to her feet again and jumps backward knocking into one of the guards who chuckles and shoves her into another guard who does the same and they make it into a game until the one holding the large sword trips Shizuru. "Stand up and face me." The warriors voice is that of a young girl, not a fearsome warrior of the barbaric tribes. She stands up once again and stares the warrior in the face. Or she would have if it was about a foot higher. Shizuru stares at the teenage girl holding the massive sword. "Where are you from?" She asks in Latin calmly.

The girls calmness unnerves Shizuru in a sense. Her cold golden eyes nearly emotionless and cat like. "I'm... I'm born in Carthage...raised in Arrentium...I live in Rome..." She speaks slowly with many pauses, almost stoically. The girl suddenly smiles. "I'm Mikoto. Let's be friends?" She hugs Shizuru randomly confusing Shizuru immensely. She looks at her with eyebrows raised. "What?" She cocks her head to the side.

Mikoto continues smiling and picks up a cat that had been wandering around. "Say hello Mr. Whiskers." The cat meows and starts to paw at Shizuru. Shizuru raises her hand and looks at Mikoto to ask her if she can pet it. Mikoto nods. "I got him before I left the pharohs service to join the wolfhounds." She explains the history of the cat and simultaneously revealing her own background. Shizuru scopes the rest of the unmasked members of the group. There are people of every color, shape and size, ranging from the pale tall Celts and Slavs from the far north to the men of Numidia and Mali, with skin so dark it could almost be called black. _'A multicultural coalition of warriors...amazing...' _Shizuru lets her thoughts become words by mistake. Mikoto smiles and nods. "That's right. We have me. I'm a servant of the Pharoh. Mai, who's Gaulish." She goes and clings to the busty redhead from before. "And of course we have Aoi, an Athenian, " She points at a relatively short woman with long braided brown hair wearing a simple brown tunic. "And finally Chie Hallard, the only Briton with us." She points at a tall short haired woman standing next to Aoi, she also happens to be the only person in the room wearing full battle armor, as if she just returned from it. The woman grunts and looks away from Shizuru as if she is not worthy of her eyes. Shizuru turns her head and looks at Mikoto. "Why do you tell me all this?"

Mikoto grins like the cat she is holding. "Because you're a friend." She runs off like a small girl. Shizuru stands without an idea of what is going on.

"Why have you not killed me yet?" She says sternly and coldly staring Mai in the face. Mai sits down on a wooden chair next to a throne. "We have yet to kill you because...because the Hounds judgment has not yet been made, therefore you will stay with us until it is." She crosses her legs. "Now begone, bandying empty words is pointless as praying to false Gods."

Shizuru scoffs and leaves.

* * *

Natsuki sits up in her small cottage and runs her hand over her face. "Takeda?" She calls to her servant. A black, spiky haired man runs into the room and bows. "Yes Mi'lord?" He says the rags he's wearing bearely enough to cover himself. She brings herself to her feet slowly and calmly taking time to stretch out her sore muscles. "Have the men returned from the field yet?" She asks not bothering to look at him once. He stands and nods. "They returned last night...they captured the enemy general." He says seemingly nervous.

Natsuki smiles satisfied. "Excellent, is it the Viola?" She wipes her face off with a small towel like object. He bites his lip nervously. "I don't know mi'lord." He takes a step back.

Natsuki turns around and puts on her stolen Lorica Segmentata, that has been heavily altered so the plates are black and have a white wolfs head on the left breast. "Well then I would advise you find out soon." She says coolly. "It may help you earn your freedom." She gives him mild motivation despite the fact she has no intention of freeing him.

Takeda nods. "Yes Mi'lord." He sighs and stalks off sadly. "Why does she have to be so beautiful..." He drones as he walks back to his quarters.

Natsuki stares at his back as he sullenly walks away. _'Poor man.' _She feels a little sympathy for the man but not much. She finishes putting on her armor and steps out into the vast hallways in the Cieftans circle. She looks at the High king. "Good day my King." She says bowing with her hand across her chest.

He nods at her. "Good Morning Natsuki. I hope you have slept well, for the Harbinger calls to you." He says pointing at Mikoto who was sitting on the ground fiddling with an earthworm in her black outfit specially made to remind her of home. Natsuki raises an eyebrow. "Very well then..." She goes and sits next to Mikoto on the floor.

She bows down on the floor and sits back up. "You asked to see me." Mikoto stops fiddling with the worm and throws it outside. "I did indeed Messenger. Has the hound made judgement yet?" Mikoto asks very seriously. As opposed to her behavior just seconds ago. Natsuki stands up and retrieves a roll of parchment from the table next to her. "Here." She hands the paper to her slowly as if fearing her hand getting removed. Mikoto quickly snatches the roll from Natsuki's hand and reads it aloud.

"The Violii general shall be tortured and publicly executed as an example of what happens when you try to enforce the laws of the True Roman People." She say coldly with her brow stressed making her look tired. She hands the paper back to Natsuki who takes it with haste and puts it on the table. Mikoto leaves without saying anything.

Natsuki puts on her wolf pelt over her head so the snout with fangs still attached hangs out over her face. _'Damn...that girl...So irritating.'_ She fastens her sword to her waist and grabs her long pike before heading towards the center of the camp where they were keeping the Roman. When she arrives she leans against a support beam. "Mai. Where is the Roman Leader." She sets her pike up against the wall along with the other weapons. Mai turns around to look at her. "She is in the holding chambers north of the High Kings hall." She says handing Natsuki a scroll with a smile.

Natsuki looks down at the scroll. "What is this?" She asks sounding devoid of mirth. "It's a map of Northern Italica. Use it to your best ability when your unit finally gets to see combat." She says sounding very condescending. Natsuki growls slightly but tucks the map into her belt so she does not lose it. Mai chuckles. "Don't be too cocky just because the Hound has chosen you to be their messenger." She walks out presumably to visit Mikoto. Natsuki glares at her back. _'Stupid turncoat.' _She exhales sharply and exits the building.

She hurriedly makes her way over to the holding area where Shizuru is being held becoming impatient with her peers and curious on just who or what the General is. Two guards attempt to stop her by holding their pikes in front of her crossed. "We have instructions from the harbinger not to let anyone in accept members of Duran. Natsuki growls at them. Irritated at no one knowing who she is, even if her chair is the lowest among Duran. "I am the Messenger of Duran. Let me in." She shoves her way past the guards angrily.

Entering the tent housing the cell she immediatly doubles back at the foul stench of the place. "It smells like roting flesh." She says to herself holding her sleeve over her face to block the odor. She looks around and realizes that is exactly what the smell is. Two dead rats lay at her feet with several others scattered throughout the tent. In the middle of the cell laying face down on the ground in her purple dyed clothes and painted armor is Shizuru. Natsuki sighs. _'Poor thing...she's already dead. Mikoto won't be happy about this...' _Natsuki thinks sarcastically turning around to leave when she hears movement from the cell. She spins around on her heal quickly and stares directly into the fear filled eyes of a true beauty. Her honey colored hair although spattered with blood and dirt still shines with a certain gleam. Like the blaze of the sun in the morning.

"What is your name Roman." Natsuki asks coldly. Shizuru shuffles away from her as quickly as possible kicking up dirt in the process. Natsuki stands and opens the cell door before entering. "I'll ask you again. What is your name?" Her voice becomes infuriated at Shizuru's disobediance. Shizuru continues backing up until she hits the back of the cell. She starts cowering and avoiding Natsuki's gaze.

Natsuki leans down and stares at Shizuru their eyes so close that their noses almost touch.

"Natsuki Kruger..." Shizuru whispers her voice shaky. "Remember the name of the one who killed you Natsuki Kruger." She finishes. Natsuki is taken aback. _'This woman knows the exact phrase I said when I killed Flavius Viola...could it be..." _

"Shizuru Viola Fujino." Natsuki says with a small chuckle. "How sweet, first I killed your brother. Now I get to kill you for giving me this scar." She draws her sword and traces her fingers along the line of a scar above her brow that extended all the way down to her naval

* * *

**Flashback (15 years ago)**

16 year old Shizuru runs down the burning street carrying a bow and a full payload of arrows. The bells ringing nearly drowns out the sound of clashing swords.

Tears run down the young girls face as she runs over the limp bodies of dead civilians and soldiers. "Flavius!?" She calls out to her brother but to no avail. "Flavius!?" She shouts again this time greeted by a figure on a black horse, obviously female. The rider jumps off the horse and takes off her helmet revealing her shaggy black hair and pale flesh. The woman soldier picks up her club and advances on Shizuru who frantically attempts to draw her bow and fire. Suddenly the house behind her explodes sending Shizuru flying into the woman knocking her over. The armored woman punches at Shizuru with her teeth gritted hitting Shizuru directly in the eye.

Shizuru cries out in pain and holds her hand over her eye tears of pain and fear spilling from her eyes like waterfalls. She sobs and falls to her knees. "Flavius..." She says quietly as the soldier approaches her with her clubs raised. The sound of horse hooves hitting the pavement brings Shizuru's eyes to the source of the sound. She immediatly grins widely. "FLAVIUS!" She calls to him just as he slams his shield into the head of the woman knocking her over. He quickly jumps off of his horse and goes to attack the club armed woman but she is ready. As soon as he comes in range she kicks him in the chest knocking him backwards sending him sprawling across the ground. She struggles to get up but eventually manages to rise to her feet and charge Flavius. She screams her battlecry drowning out all other sounds as she comes withing range and goes for the kill. Flavius rolls to the side dodging her downward swing of her clubs. He jumps to his feet but he is not quick enough and one of the heavy clubs hits him directly in the face shattering his teeth and knocking off his helmet. Shizuru sits on the ground with tears spilling out of her eyes in concern and fear. "Flavius..."She whispers to herself.

The woman charges at Flavius one last time but he dodges and moves in close and stabs her in the back with his gladius. he kicks her to the ground and stabs her in the neck for good measure.

Flavius drops his sword and runs over to Shizuru. "Shizuru are you alright?" He asks true concern showing in his crimson eyes. Shizuru nods and goes to hug her brother but he is wrenched from her grasp by a lasso held by a young mounted woman who pulls Flavius by the throat towards her. Flavius reaches for his belt dagger but to no avail. He looks at Shizuru with fear stricken eyes. "Run Shizuru!" He calls out. She stands up slowly and begins to run away but stops shortly after when she hears the sound of a helmet hitting the pavement. The young woman, with her long raven colored hair is bearly even old enough to have gone through her first menstrual cycle. her blue eyes shine due to the fires around them. She stares at Shizuru. "Flavius Marinus Viola, remember the name of the one who killed you. NATSUKI KRUGER." She thrusts her sword into his head killing him instantly.

"Brother!" Shizuru cries out, but her cries fall on deaf ears. For the man she knew as her brother was long dead. In a blind rage Shizuru grabs the nearest sharp object, a half broken spear, and hurls it into the group of warriors. Natsuki swings her sword in the air and cuts the shaft in half once again. She growls and bares her teeth and approaches Shizuru with her long sword drawn.

"You...insolent woman." Natsuki charges at her with her war cry overshadowing the sound of the catapults. Shizuru in her panic dives foreward and grabs a glaive and swings downward just in time to catch Natsuki with the blade cutting down her face and through her chainmail down to the middle of her stomach.

Natsuki screams in pain and doubles over and tries to grab shizuru's leg. Shizuru kicks her hand away and drops the glaive running to her horse mounting it without stopping. She is gone before Natsuki can register what happened.

* * *

**End Flashback**

Natsuki laughs harshly at the memory. "You beat me that day. but you won't this time." She closes the distance between them and tries to stab Shizuru but she is too slow and Shizuru dodges and runs to another corner. Natsuki growls. _'just what is she doing...' _She thinks angrily inside her head. She charges Shizuru once again but she dodges again.

Shizuru starts to laugh like she thinks it's funny. Natsuki raises an eyebrow and growls at her. "Shut up! Stupid!" She charges again but Shizuru this time slides in between Natsuki's legs her laughter becoming increasingly loud.

A red colour came to Natsuki's face. "Hold still you idiot." She charges again this time Shizuru clotheslines her knocking her to the ground.

They continue this degenerate dance for a long while until both are left panting and laughing. Natsuki however despite laughing has a massive blush on her face due to the sheer embarasment of being thwarted by an unarmed woman who looked ready to piss herself.

Shizuru continues laugh. "You looked so stupid..." She points at Natsuki who drops her sword in astonishment. "What did you just say stupid!" She shouts sounding like a little girl.

Shizuru has a smug expression on her face. " I said you look stupid." She chuckles behind her had like a true lady. This was the first time Natsuki had gotten a good look at the captive. Natsuki blushes. _'She's...She's absolutely gorgeous...' _She takes a step back and Shizuru takes one forward. They repeat this process until Natsuki is pushed up against the cell wall.

"Well well...this is interesting." A third voice said. The voice belonged to Mikoto who sat down on the floor in front of the cell. "I can't tell whether she want's to ravage you or rip your intestines out and hang you with them." She says dully.

Natsuki's blush spreads. "W-Wh-what...d-d-dd-do y-you m-mean..." Natsuki stutters out causing Shizuru to burst into hysterical laughter.

Mikoto looks at Shizuru. "You. General. Come with me." She unlocks the cage and lets Shizuru out but closes the door and locks it before Natsuki can. She then hangs the keys on a hook about 3 ft. from the cells door.

Shizuru looks at Mikoto still having problems not bursting into laughter and follows her out of the tent ignoring Natsuki screaming.

"Stupid fox...Stupid cat..." She growls like a dog.

* * *

The busty redhead from earlier. Mai, was sitting down at a table with another redhead and a brunette.

Shizuru looks at them as they had yet to notice her prescence. Mikoto drags Shizuru to the table and forces her to sit down.

The other redhead turns her head to look at Shizuru with a somewhat drunken expression. "You look beautiful ma'am..." She reaches out and grabs Shizuru's hand and gets down on one knee to which Shizuru raises an eyebrow. "Will you give birth to my children...?" She asks obviously piss drunk. Shizuru sighs and kicks the woman off. Mai glares at Shizuru but doesn't say anything.

The brunette, who also looked quite drunk smiled at Shizuru. "You'll have to excuse Midori, she can be quite obnoxious when drunk. I'm Youko." She says with a smile to which Mai clears her throat. "She is a fugitive, do not show her such respect." She scoffs at Youko and turns her head obviously irritated.

Mai gets up from the table and walks away with an angry step but stops when she hears Mikoto's voice. "Sit down Mai we have things to discuss." She points At the floor for good measure. Mai does so but not willing.

Mikoto smiles briefly. "Now. Viola , the Wolf wants you dead but I dont think we should kill you just yet. I want to torture you first" she says with a grin a dark grin that shows no warmth. Shizurus eyes widen in horror and she tries to stand up and run but she is sopped by a reletively tall man with spiky blond hair with brown roots. He pushes her back down into her seat.

Mai seems to brighten up for a moment before she regains her composure. "Thank you Tate. You may go now." She dismissess him. He bows before he leaves.

Shizuru Stares at the person she thought was her savior who turned out to be her worst nightmare. _'Gods why have you forsaken me.'_ She does not verbalize her fear trying to appear Strong.

Mikoto chuckles. "You will be staying with my most trusted advisor until the process begins." Mai looks at her. " she is not staying with me." She says angrily. Mikoto smile like a cat. "Shell be staying with Natsuki. After shes much more trustworthy." Shizuru can see a small pang in Mai's eyes before it disappears behind her shell. She chuckles in her mind at the woman. _'serves you right.' _soon Mikoto returns with a rather ticked Natsuki who glares at Shizuru and looks like she's about to charge at her again when Mikoto puts her arm out stopping Natsuki in her tracks. "She'll be staying with you Natsuki, try not to kill each other." She says before walking off with Mai.

Natsuki stares at Shizuru for a moment before sighing and giving in. "Come on my home is this way." She leads Shizuru out of the room and to her hut. Shizuru stands surprised. _'She calmed down very quickly...' _She chuckles to herself and follows Natsuki to the hut which was more like a cabin.

The large building consisted of mostly practical items like a blacksmiths hammer or a sharpening wheel. There were however little trinkets here and there including one that particularly interested Shizuru. She walks over and picks up a small box with words carved into this. "What does this say Tsuki-chan." She says teasing Natsuki, who spins around faster than a bullet and gawks at Shizuru dumbfounded. "Put that down it's my fathers." She nearly rips Shizuru's hands off in the process of taking it back. "And if you must know it says 'Live to serve, die to protect. That is the duty of the wolf cubs.' It's the motto of the elite among the Hound of Duran's armies. Including myself." She puts the box down next to a helmet with a white handprint paint on it.

Shizuru smiles. "What happened to your father?" She asks kindly walking closer to Natsuki a smile on her face and her hands folded behind her back. Natsuki sits down and breathes out a heavy breath. "He was killed a long time ago, when Ceasar was just getting started with his conquests. As were my two brothers. Even now as we speak I can almost be certain he is maching thousands of troops across our lands." She says with a hate filled voice her muscles twitching every so often. Shizuru offers her a comforting hand on her shoulder and Natsuki excepts it and slowly cools off. "If it makes you feel any better, I helped kill Caesar myself. I even stabbed him once or twice." She says with a smile refering to her actions mere months ago.

Natsuki looks at Shizuru with a face of disbelief. "It's true. trust me" She says placing her other hand on Natsuki's. Natsuki rests her head on the table and quickly falls asleep. Shizuru grins. "Such a cute little puppy. " She goes to lay down on Natsuki's bed and slowly but surely falls into a deep sleep as well.

* * *

**ALEXANDRIA CAPITOL OF EGYPT.**

Reito Viola Kannzaki is seated alone in his palace looking over the waters of the Nile. He smiles at the Serene air and takes a sip of his tea. Suddenly he is interuppted by a loud bang followed by rushed footsteps and shouts. He sets his tea down and stands to go investigate. "What is going on in here. " He says still sounding kind despite his harsh words.

vA messanger runs up to him and hands him a scroll. "It's your sister my lord. She's been captured by The Hound of Duran, leaving her army leaderless in the harsh climate of the Alps." The Courier bows and runs away.

Reito scowls. _'So much for my good, Serene quiet day.' _He thinks angrily. "Someone get me Nao." He yells at the nearest servant who scurries off to find her.

After nearly twenty minutes of waiting the red haired woman finally appears. She brushes her hair back revealing a spider tribal tattoo on her lower arm. She kneels down on one knee a diabolical smirk plays across her face. "How may I serve you...My master.

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_to be continued._

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**AN: Hey guys it's really good to be back, I'm sorry that I couldn't post for such a long time, so I thought I'd make it up to you guys by giving you a really long chapter. **

**Still only one person has guessed the true identity of the Hound of Duran, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter where we finally learn some things about some characters and Finally introduce the third main Character Nao Aracnii Wong **

**Whoo making up names. And lastly I thank all of those who supported me after the accident. I can move my fingers But not my arms. Oh well its good to be back. Tell me do you guys like longer chapters that take me longer to write or shorter ones that i can pop out in a week or two. R/R -chizu **

**Oh and one Last do you guys feel about the countries i made the main cast from?**


	4. A Spider On the Wall

**Tales of The Violii  
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**A Spider On the Wall**

**AN: Thank you to those that reviewed the last chapter of Tales of the Violii. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well. R/R- Chizu**

**Also this chapter is going to be very violent so if you really hate violence you may just want to skip over this chapter but you will miss some major information.**

* * *

"I hate sand..." A redheaded woman dressed in a black robe with a mask on a spider painted on the mask thinks aloud while treking through the Sahara desert towards Jerusalem. She had been walking for nearly a week and already her provisions had run out and she was stuck drinking any kind of water she could find. Her horse which she had at the beginning of her journey had since been rendered useless by the sandstorms and dust devils roaming freely across the desert.

Nao removes her mask and places it in her bag and brushes her greasy, matted down hair out of her face. Her jade colored eyes scan the area. "Well...Ain't that a surprise. A whole payload of nothing." She tsks and starts to walk again into the ocean of sand.

Soon day turns to night and the blistering heat of the day turns into bitter cold. Nao shivers and puts her mask back on keeping her hood attached to it so it wouldn't come off. Nao stops and looks up at the stars whilst pulling a map out of her napsack looking between it and the stars a few times she comes to the conclusion. "Jerusalem is near...but Nazarath is closer. She looks at the mountains ahead of her. "Damn it all to hell." She starts walking again across the eternal sands and the steep mountain passes.

Nao, now having a steady position on a normaly angled part of the mountain looks down at the valley. She chuckles. "I can see the Lighthouse at Alexandria all the way from here..." She takes off her mask and hood finally letting her shoulder length hair free. She sighs and continues walking again. She continues walking through the night until she reaches the small town of Nazareth. She smiles satisfied at finally finding a place to stay.

An old man walks up to her. "What business do you have here young traveler?" He asks with a kind smile. She smiles back. "I would just like to stay the night here. Would that be possible?" She asks kindly. The old man looks around. "I'm afraid not young one. Our village is completely filled. You may sleep in the barn if you like but my own home is already housing five." He bows and turns away from her. Nao chuckles and fastens something to her fingers. She lashes out at the man with the claws cutting deep wounds into his back nearly killing him. "I think I'll take your bed." She stomps on his skull and walks past him into the largest house in the village. "I'm staying here." She says to a mother who is cleaning the house. She looks at her strangely. "You'd have to ask my husband or my father. " She stands and offers to take Nao's things. Nao slashes the woman across the throat and kicks her over into the well of the clay house, she gurgles choking on her own blood. Nao chuckles. "No need. I'm staying." She walks into the room closest to her where the womans sleeping husband lie. She pulls out a dagger and kicks him off of the cot and onto the floor waking him up. He stands up startled and looks around. "W-who are you?" He asks nervously. Nao takes a step closer and throws the blade lodging it in his shoulder. "Nao Juliet Aracnii is my given name. but I go by Nao Arcanii Wong." She smiles and lays down in the bed. The man pulls the blade out of his shoulder and rushes at Nao who kicks him in the chin with her leather shoes and backflips out of the bed and onto his shoulders his head between her knees. She jerks them to the side quickly breaking his neck and she jumps off of him and back onto the ground. She looks at the bed, blood now covers the pillow cases. "Damn... oh well next house." She grabs a torch and tosses it onto the bed making it catch on fire and walks out of the room jamming the door shut along with all of the others in case there was anyone still alive in the room. She laughs at the screams and cries of the children. She winks and walks away from the house and into the square. A crowd had gathered there inspecting the dead old man. One of them looks at Nao. "There it is!" He grabs a torch and throws it at Nao who catches it with one hand shedding her robe in the process revealing her clothes which were black arabian stack pants with a left over right tied vest also black with a red sash and belts with multiple knives attached to them. She throws the torch onto a stack of hay igniting it instantly and burning the house next to it made of wood.

Many of the men surround her with weapons of various types including slings and bows. She chuckles darkly again and looks around at them all. "What's wrong? Attack me!" She screams at them flashing her bloody claws. One of them finally mans up and tries to stab Nao with his spear but she grabs it from him and hits him in the head with the staff and throws the pike like a javelin into another man. She sighs. "Boring..." She runs at one of the men and claws his eyes out while simultaneously throwing two of her knives into two seperate targets killing both of them. She kicks another in the head and does a butterfly kick while throwing more knives. "Come on half of you dont even have weapons." She grabs a woman by the hair and tears her face off literally and drops her body on the ground. "You guys aren't even worth the energy." She calmly walks towards her enemies who drop their weapons and run like cowards. She starts to laugh maniacally and throws the last of her knives at the men running away killing at least half of them. Nao breathes heavily and looks around the burning village until she finds just what she's looking for. A busty young woman with looks to boot. Nao walks over to the crying girl slowly. She grabs the woman by the hair. "And you girl..." She smirks and presses their faces together. "Are my consolation prize." She tears the girls clothes off and lets her cries drown into the night.

The next morning the entire village had been burned to the ground. Not a single man, woman, or child survived save for the girl Nao had her way with but even she did not live long afterwards. Nao nailed her hands and feet to a cross and set her up on display however she did not wait for her to die, she left as soon as she crucified the poor girl wandering off into the desert once more.

Nao chuckles as she tosses the coin she found up and down. "This'll cover boat expenses so I can get there faster and reclaim what is rightfully mine." She smiles and heads to Jerusalem.

* * *

"Damnit it's hot..." A black haired woman says shielding her eyes from the desert sun. "You okay back there Erstin?" She calls back to her blonde partner who doesn't respond. "Erstin?!" She calls again. This time the blonde girl points at something. "Look Nina smoke!" She takes off in the direction of the smoke not waiting for the other girl. Nina sighs. "Hey wait up!" She runs after her.

Erstin rushes into the burned village. "What...what happened here..." She spots the girl on the cross. "Hey Nina! Over here!" She runs over to the cross and dismantles it. Nina stands over her. "Is she dead?" She asks with a raised eyebrow. She feels her pulse. Erstin stands up and nods slowly. "They...they are all dead..." She seems slightly scared. Nina puts her hand on her shoulder. "That's enough. We have to keep following Aracnii. We don't have time to be dawdling." She walks away from the wreckage like it doesn't even bother her.

Erstin looks at her sadly. "You of all people should understand why we need to take care of the bodies Nina. After all you were there when Carthage" "Shut up!" Nina cuts her off and keeps walking. "We have a mission and maybe if we are lucky we just might be raised up the ladder." She forces a smile. "We need to go come on." She takes Erstin's hand and leads her to the nearest city. Jerusalem.

* * *

Nao paces back and forth in the market place. "That lazy son of a bitch. He's late again." She growls and looks around and sees a very tall man with grey hair and a blank facial expression. "Took you long enough." She says to him as he hands her the boat passes and replacement knives along with a strange gem. "What the hell did you bring me now Bateau? A stupid rock?" She holds the gem up to the sky and her breath gets caught in her throat. "Is this...Is this a Soul Gem?" She asks Bateau. He nods. "I found it a while back when I was doing mercenary work. I think it'll serve you much better than it ever did for me." He smiles and waves before walking off.

Nao chuckles darkly. "Now...I'm a god." She puts the jewel in her bag and disappears within the crowd.

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_To Be Continued..._

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**Wow. Gave a ton of hints as to what's going to happen in the next chapter and got to focus on our main bad guy a bit. The next chapter will also be a Nao centric chapter however the next chapter we'll be having our characters play a little game of hide and go seek. Did anybody notice the Cameo? If so please post in comments.**

**As to you guest who left the review that said I bastardized Natsuki. I wasn't going for a perfect impression. This is the way I made her and this is the way she's staying. Not to mention. She's 6 years younger than Shizuru so really in my opinion she is a child. If you don't like my story or the way I make characters then please click the back button and don't bother wasting your own time.**

**Anyways I plan on having this story be about 30 chapters long. If I'm lucky I may be able to pump out more. 1/6 of the way there. R/R -Chizu**


	5. Heart and Soul

**Tales of the Violii**

**Heart and Soul**

* * *

Erstin looks around at her surroundings her partner standing next to her. The noisy crowd around them making it hard to focus. They had arrived in Jerusalem just the same morning and yet they had already been following a lead. "Nina do you see anything?" She asks her black haired partner who shakes her head and removes the turban she had been wearing

"Ers. Are you even sure she's even here. It's very likely she left already " She says with a frown still scanning the crowd. Ers nods.

"She has to be here. There's no way she could have left that quickly. The boats leaving for Athens don't leave until sundown." She says with a sigh brushing past a very large man with gray hair. "That guy looked like serious business." Ers shudders her Androphobia showing through. Nina shakes her head.

"Come on Ers. There isn't anything here accept for Egyptians and Jackasses." She says and heads towards the dock. Nina stops suddenly a vast chill running down her spine. "Ers...did you feel that?" She turns around and stares at Erstin.

"Did I feel what?" She asks with a bright smile. Nina sighs. _'must've been my imagination.' _She ventures deeper into the crowd.

Nao chuckles and watches Nina's fading form. _'The soul gem is indeed a real gem.' _She tosses the teal jewel into the air and catches it before disappearing into the shadows.

Erstin breathes heavily. "Nina...How much money do we have left?" She asks sweating like a dog.

Nina looks into a pouch hanging at her side. "500 denarii. Hardly enough to buy boat tickets...much less buy any supplies. Looks like we'll have to make some money." She looks at Ers. "You know what to do." She wanders off.

Erstin sighs. "Why am I always the one who has to make money..." She walks off towards the large marble hall at the center of the town.

Nina looks back at Ers' back. _'Looks like I'll have to fight the Aracnii alone...' _She turns and steps with vigor eager to find Nao and kill her. Nina sinks into the shadows of the alleyways and puts her hood up and her face covering up as well. She follows the darkness until she senses something or someone following her. Nina spins around into a guarding stance her dagger drawn and ready. A female figure stands before her in black robes and an iron mask over her face. She chuckles darkly.

"It took you long enough Nina." The figure removes the mask and her headwear revealing herself to be Nao. Nina grinds her teeth nervously.

"You are the Aracnii are you not." She states circling Nao slowly who nods.

"That is correct, I am Nao Aracnii Wong." She throws off her robe and also takes up a guarding stance. "Are you sure you want to fight me though." She shows the gem. Nina looks at her strangely.

"You're jewelry is nice but it won't get you very far here." She lunges at Nao who dodges it easily and kicks Nina in the gut. Nina coughs the wind knocked out of her and slowly stands. She faces Nao who is busy filling her nails.

"Boring..." Nao says slowly and walks away obviously disinterested. Nina pulls out her braids letting her black hair flow down her back. She throws her dagger at Nao who catches it by the blade and tosses it back. "Don't disarm yourself." She chuckles and walks out into the busy streets. Nina growls.

"FIGHT ME COWARD!" She shouts at Nao with a force that would make even the mightiest of men bow down. Nao slowly turns around.

"As you wish." She runs at Nina and jumps into a flying side kick hitting her directly in the face knocking her into a basket full of fruit. Nao throws several knives at Nina hitting several civilians. Nina jumps up away from the knives and dodges a forward jab from Nao and kicks her feet out from under her and follows up with a pile driver but Nao moves out of the way and backflips into a guard who had come to see what all the comotion was about. Nao kicks him in the face and pulls the gem out of her bag. "I didn't want to use this so soon but I guess I have to." The gem starts to glow green.

Nina's head begins to hurt and her ears begin to ring. _'It's like my soul is being sucked out...wait... THAT'S A SOUL GEM.' _Nina tries to ignore the pain standing up nearly straight. She watches many civilians fall over dead until she is the only one left standing in the area.

Nao smiles. "It would appear that your soul is stronger than these weaklings." She deactivates the gem and kicks Nina square in the jaw knocking her out.

* * *

Shizuru wakes with a start. "That was a strange dream..." She sighs. "Natsuki? Are you here?" She calls out. It had been around 6 weeks since she had first started living with Natsuki and she was finally becoming accoustomed to the Wolfhounds and they to her. She looks down at the branding on her upper arm. It is a wolfs head. They had branded it on her during her first torture session and the pain still remained after 6 weeks. She sighs. _'I haven't been tortured for a whole week. Maybe they're thinking about letting me go.' _The notion brings excitment to her face but it fades quickly as she remembers that their orders were from their elusive leader. "They wouldn't betray the Hound for a simple Roman General." She breathes slowly in and out just as Natsuki enters the room.

"What is it Shizuru?" She asks with a sigh her raven locks showing signs of sleep. Shizuru stands up and smiles at the dark haired girl.

"Nothing I was just wondering where you were." She giggles when Natsuki grumbles and walks away back to bed. Shizuru smiles.

_'Well I suppose Natsuki might... Oh well Mikoto will probably want to play today.' _She gathers a few trinkets and toys that Mikoto enjoys and looks in the mirror. She had traded out her heavy armor for a simple tan tunic and she wore no shoes. Shizuru sighs agian. "Well I certainly look like a slave." She walks out of the house to the building Mikoto shared with Mai.

When she walks into the house Mai is busy cleaning. "Mikoto is in the back with the stupid cat again..." She mumbles angrily something about spending more time with the cat then her. Shizuru raises an eyebrow and walks into the back where Mikoto is rolling around wrestling her pet bobcat. Shizuru chuckles and sits down watching the two catlike beings play.

Mikoto stops when she see's Shizuru. "Shizuru!" She tackles her to the ground hugging her. Shizuru laughs and sits up again Mikoto still hanging on her. "What did you bring today? Did you bring the horse? Did you? Did you? Did you?" She asks in about 2 seconds flat. Shizuru nods.

"I did bring the horse." She holds up a wooden toy horse and hands it to Mikoto who runs around the room with it pretending it's running on its own. Shizuru smiles.

_'I never had this much fun as a child...Always off with my brother or...Reito...' _She looks down at the floor sadly which Mikoto notices quickly.

"What's wrong Shizuru." She sits down next to her. Shizuru raises her head.

"It's nothing really..." She smiles. "What do you want to play next?" She asks with a smile as Mikoto shouts a billion things out all at once.

_'Indeed...nothing at all.'_

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**AN: A bit shorter of a chapter this week hope you guys don't mind. My symphony camp took up all of my time this week. I hope you like this chapter and R/R.**

**How do you guys feel about little side stories here and there?because I might do something like that to explain some of the more minor characters pasts in detail. **

**One more thing. If there are any problems you see or any continuity errors in my story please inform me so I can go back and fix them. I hope I see you all next chapter. **

**-Chizu**


	6. Chrysanthemum Blossom

**Tales of the Violii**

**Chrysanthemum Blossom**

**AN: Warning very very very light lime in the beginning of chapter if don't like skip over it, it is not essential.**

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_'Why am I even here...' _A certain honey haired beauty whispers to herself. She had been here for nearly 3 months and now doubted she would ever escape, but even stranger she didn't even want to escape. She liked it here. Everyone treated her like she was a person rather than a noble or a god and she loved it. However, she was also having growing affections towards her raven haired captor. She sighs aloud her thoughts wandering again.

_'Shizuru I love you... I wonder what it would sound like on her lips...' _She blushes at her own thoughts but smiles happily from her spot on the highest branch of a ceder tree. She scans the small barbarian village below her.

"Everyone has a purpose here...not a single person is out of place. Such an ordered place...and I always thought they were brutes with no sense of order and direction." Shizuru sighs and climbs down the tree her worn knit tunic tearing in certain places where it was caught on a branch. Shizuru sighs.

"Damnit...that's the third time this week..." She mumbles to herself and walks straight into someone knocking her back down onto the ground with the person on top of her. Shizuru yelps slightly as she lands on her rear and falls backwards closing her eyes waiting for the person to move. She opens her eyes after a few seconds noticing the person not moving. She stares directly into the handsome brown eyes of the previously introduced Briton Chie Hallard.

"Umm...excuse me what are you doing..." Shizuru is shushed by a finger placed on her lips which is quickly replaced with another pair of lips. Shizuru gasps in surprise and struggles a bit but in her struggling allows room for the tall woman to take advantage of her, which she does.

Shizuru finally manages to get one of her arms free and slaps the woman across the cheek as hard as she can just as the woman gropes her breast. Shizuru stands up and stares at Chie. "Just who do you think you are!" She says sternly.

Chie chuckles her voice low for a woman. "I'm sorry I can't help it everytime I see a beautiful woman I just have to kiss her." She stands and walks away still chuckling. This infuriates Shizuru.

"Hey! I was not done talking to you. Who gave you the right to do that!" She gets pushed into a tree roughly and something cold presses against her throat.

"Please stop yelling." Chie says calmly pulling a blue painted rose out of her pocket and placing it in Shizuru's hair. Shizuru blushes when she feels something rubbing against her crotch.

"Stop...please..." She gasps out softly. Chie smirks and ignores her pleas continuing her molestation of her body.

"HALLARD!" The young voice of Mikoto booms out causing Chie to go stiff and drop Shizuru.

"Yes ma'am?" She salutes Mikoto backing away from Shizuru. Mikoto approaches with an angry look on her face, getting so close her nose and Chie's touch.

"Aoi's looking for you." She says happily skipping over to Shizuru as Chie scurries off to find her friend.

Shizuru stands up. "Thank you Mikoto." She kisses the younger girls forehead earning a big ear to ear grin. "No problem. Just looking out for my friend."

Shizuru smiles and walks off towards where Natsuki is most likely at. The artillary range in the back of the village facing the forest where catapults and ballistae and the like are teested and tweaked to perfection. Natsuki always had an interest in large weapons. Especially the ballista.

Shizuru walks through the permenantly open fence and creeps up behind Natsuki who is sitting on an unfinished ballistae holding a bolt for it in her hands looking it over for flaws. Shizuru grins and attacks Natsuki with tickles knocking the younger girl to the ground with a scream of both surprise and small fear which is quickly drowned in the giggles and laughs of Natsuki.

"Shizuru stop it..." She giggles out pushing Shizuru off who rolls over next to Natsuki.

"Sorry." She teases Natsuki. "You know...I've been wondering..." She says abrubtly rolling back over to stare at the sky. "Why am I still alive."

Natsuki looks at her honey haired companion. "Because the hound has not arrived yet." She says dully. "Once they are here you will be killed immediatly." She sighs. "That said...we've grown used to having you here and to be frank most of us will be sad to see you go." She tries to soften the blow.

Shizuru sighs and sits up. "If you hadn't found me the way you had would you have killed me?" She asks turning to face Natsuki.

She nods. "Probably. Actually we thought you were dead because your horse was dead." She smiles. "I-I'm embarrassed to say it but I think I'm starting to like having you around." She blushes darkly and turns away causing Shizuru to giggle.

"Natsuki-chan...you know you are actually very very cute." She chuckles when the younger girls blush darkens. Natsuki turns to face her.

"Thank you." She smiles and stands up hearing a faint sound far off in the background. "What is that?" She asks listening more carefully.

"It sounds like an onager..." Shizuru looks up into the skies just as hundreds of massive flaming projectiles fly across the sky and bombard the small village. She jumps out of the way of one that tears down the building they were standing next to. Natsuki runs off and mounts her horse and grabs her pike looking for Mikoto. Shizuru takes the oppourtunity to sneak around the village and go up the hill to see the attackers.

* * *

Mikoto rushes out of the hall grabbing her sword on the way out. "Hallard! Kruger!" She calls out to the other present members of the Duran. She stabs her blade into the ground as her subordonates rally in front of her. Chie holding a sword in her left hand and her shield on her right and Natsuki holding a 4 meter pike and a dagger. "You called for us?" Chie asks out of breath from running._  
_

Mikoto nods. "I will lead the foreward resistance...I want you two to go around with 2 units and attack them from behind." She seems satisfied and nods them off. Both run to their respective units and do as told. Mikoto turns away from them and faces the rain of fire. "Now then..." She picks up her sword with one hand above her head and points it at the mountains in which the enemy had been hiding. "ARCHERS!" She shouts still holding her sword at the sun telling the archers which slowly filed out of the woods what angle to fire at. "USE FIRE!" They ignite their arrows and launch them into the skies in a specific way that would make the sun blot out their arrows until they were raining down upon their attackers.

The sounds of horse hooves echos through the valley and signals where the attackers will be next. "Wait for it..." She whispers to her self and closes her eyes as if listening for the sound of a feather dropping. The wind blows and all are erily silent. She snaps her eyes open holds her sword to the east towards the enemies charging on their horses, about two hundred of them with their spears pointed towards their foes. Mikoto's gesturing allows her men to be ready for the oncoming onslaught and they are able to drive back the attacking force with their massive shield wall.

Mikoto hops down and casually walks towards the fallen horsemen to inspect them. She picks up a red flag with the symbol of the Roman Senate (SPQR) Sewed into the thin cloth. "These flags are different then when we faced them for the first time...perhaps they are not the men that Violii was leading." She says to herself turning to face the slowly advancing legionaries in their Tortoise formation. She sighs and drags her heavy blade across the ground.

"Ready men! Charge!" She picks up her sword and runs forward at high speeds ignoring the pain in the bottoms of her bare feet. She feels like a god that can never be defeated with her army of lesser gods behind her. He face cracks into a wicked grin when she hears the ear shattering war cries of her allies. "DURAN!" She screams her high pitched voice cutting through the air like a razor just as she hits the first line of enemies swinging her massive blade around over her head lopping off the head of a legionaire who was holding his shield slightly too low. She chuckles and starts her attack again jumping on top of the connected shields running across them nimbly and landing on the ground behind the startled troops in the back she draws back and runs her black sword straight through the man holding the Golden Eagle of Rome forcing the man off his feet and onto the ground dead in seconds she picks up the pole with the golden bird and snaps it over her knee tossing the sharp end of the broken staff at another legionary impaling him straight through his eye. She chuckles

"This'll be fun."

_...To be continued._

* * *

**AN: Hey guys good to see you again. Sorry it's taken me so long to post this new chapter I've been having severe writers block due to my stress over my symphony audition (I dropped my bow in the middle of my piece). I will attempt to update regularly again...however my computer is dead and i'm typing this at 5:05 in the morning on my older brothers computer while he's at work. I'll attempt to get new chapters out every other week. **

**The plot thickens. Getting some budding romance/friendship between our heroines, and Chie putting the moves on Shizuru. I'm not sure what to call that little scene at the beginning of the chapter so we will call it a lime. How do you like me making Chie a bit of a rapist. Or how do you like Shizuru being molested in a field. I really love your guy's feedback. Didn't get much last chapter but that's okay as long as I get some this chapter :)**

**Next chapter will also be Shizuru centric. **

**I hope you enjoyed and R/R-Chizu**


	7. Double Envelopment

**Tales of the Violii**

**Double Envelopment**

**AN: So okay I convinced my mother to let me move back in for a few weeks until I get a new computer so chapters will be out at a regular pace once again, probably since I type the chapters after my brother goes to work at 1 in the morning. Thanks for being patient. Also I just published a _Strawberry Panic! _story last week, it's basically a polar opposite of this so if you're looking for a new idea that I think for that category at least is a first check it out. Titled Project Sappho. Anyways onto the story. **

* * *

Natsuki looks down at the valley from her perch atop the mountain viewing the enormous enemy force. She stands her black hair flowing out from underneath her helmet her silhouette showing in the morning sky. She looks down at the ridge below her judging it. She raises her spear into the sky and jumps down immediately catching a footing on the edge of the mountain and sliding down soon followed by around fifty of her fellow tribes men. It takes them only about thirty seconds to reach the bottom of the ridge where she rolls forward to avoid injuring her ankles and knees. Natsuki climbs back to her feet and runs to a tree to hide behind. Her men follow in suit crouching in the grass and hiding behind trees and bushes.

Natsuki pokes her head around the tree to see Chie and Mikoto's groups already fighting the Legion's First Cohort. She sighs. _'Late again...'_ She brings her horn up to her lips and blows into it making the low-pitched sound travel across the field telling her men to charge from the eastern flank. She puts it in her belt and starts to run with her men her spear held behind her for safety reasons. As soon as they make contact Natsuki thrusts her spear in between the shields of the Romans tortoise formation stabbing into one of the outer layered mens arm making him drop his large rectangular shield to the ground opening himself up for an attack. One of her tribesmen takes the opportunity and clubs him to the ground causing a domino effect to the entire force knocking each and every roman to the ground except for the battle hardened Centurion who keeps his footing and picks up a fallen mans shield. He pounds his gladius against the shield and releases a roar to intimidate his enemy. He hits a charging man in the head with his shield and stabs him with his short sword before backing up away from the engaging force. He turns to face Natsuki and beats his shield again challengingly. She glares at him and throws her pike at him with incredible ease. He lowers his head and the spear goes right over him and into one of Chie's men killing him instantly.

Natsuki growls and draws her own sword and walks towards the Centurion who cracks his neck and drops the shield to make it a fair fight. He steps back into a fighting stance. _"ROMA VICTORIA!" _The man cries out charging at Natsuki with the speed and power of a charging bull.

Natsuki jumps to the side out-of-the-way and slashes at his back, but it has no effect due to his plated armor. He chuckles and turns around shedding his dark red cape. He flexes his over-sized muscles to intimidate her, but it has no effect. "You Germanian. State your name." He demands.

Natsuki glares at him and removes her helmet and mask showing her female face to him which only serves to baffle the Centurion. "I am Natsuki Kruger. The messenger of the hound." She points her sword at him. "And yours." The man heartily chuckles.

"Joseph Scipio Greer." He lunges at her again attempting to stab her, which Natsuki easily evades and slashes his back again with the same effect.

Joseph kicks Natsuki in the chest knocking her back into a tree and punches her in the face cracking her mask. Natsuki grunts in pain and shoves him from her and tackles him to the ground. She raises her sword and stabs downward until he grabs her arms and attempts to push her off of him but he is too late and the blade is plunged deep into his throat. Natsuki let's go of the sword as the man slowly dies and stands up gazing intently at the blood gushing out of his neck. She wipes the sweat off of her face after removing her now broken mask. "Jackass..." She takes her sword and places her helmet back in her bag.

She looks around at her allies. She spots Chie fighting standing over best friend Aoi who was on the ground bleeding out of her upper arm. She turns her head and sees Mikoto just in time to watch her lop three heads off in one swing.

Natsuki turns just in time to see a pilum coming straight at her. She hits the deck at the same time the pila flies over her and breaks against the tree. Natsuki looks around. "Donner please strike your mighty hammer down upon these foes." She stands up runs for cover as a monsoon rain of arrows batter down on top of her. She trips on a dead body causing an arrow to narrowly miss hears footsteps and sees more arrows fall all around her but none hit her. Confused Natsuki turns around and sees her servant Takeda standing over her protectively multiple arrows sticking out of him. He falls backwards nearly dead.

Natsuki's eyes open wide. "Takeda!" She crawls over to him rips open his tunic revealing at least nine puncture wounds from the arrows. She sighs sadly at her friend.

Takeda raises his hand and cups her cheek expecting her to slap away his hand. He is surprised when she doesn't and smiles. "Master...I always..." He coughs out blood and closes his eyes passing out before he dies.

A single tear falls from Natsuki's eye. "I hope you dine well with the gods." She raises to her feet and dusts off her shoulders. Someone approaches her from behind softly the only thing telling her of the persons presence is the sound of the chain rattling from her weapon.

"Finally showing some support for him now that he's passed up." A certain blonde gladiator says again using the wrong word. Natsuki sighs.

"And just where have you been? Hitting on that scrawny diplomat as usual?" She turns to face her with her face completely void of emotion. Haruka chuckles heartily.

"I suppose that's carrot." She smiles. "Well Natsuki!" She pats her on the shoulder. "What makes me feel better is..." She starts to swing her ball and chain around above her head. "BLOOD AND GUTS!" She lets the ball fly free smashing through the battle line of the enemy Romans killing a multitude of them and shattering the shields, swords, and armor of many others. She cries out a roar and charges at another enemy pulling a hammer off of her back and smashing it clean through the head of a Legionary blood and bone is launched across the field as she starts to form a rhythm clearing a path all the way to her former partner. She wipes the blood off of her olive colored outfit and her black armor. "Hallard quit trying to be a hero and do your job. There's a reason you're the Shield and I'm the Sword." She punches another legionary in the face scattering his teeth across the grass.

Chie gasps in surprise nearly dropping her guard. Aoi scrambles to her feet and picks up a Roman rectangular shield to defend herself as her allies have more important things to do.

Haruka kicks straight through a shield showing her absolutely superhuman strength. She takes a sword from Chie and stabs another Centurion through the back of his helmet. She cracks her knuckles. "Now where is that bitch. The Violii general. " She asks Mikoto who had landed in between them.

Mikoto scratches her chin. "Come to think of it... I have no idea." She says showing her more ditty side.

Natsuki runs over to join them. "She was with me but I had to hurry out here...you don't think she went to go and escape?" She asks seeming a bit too concerned.

Chie laughs at Natsuki. "What's with that tone. Have you fallen in _love_ with her." She emphasises the word love.

Natsuki blushes and scoffs. "No...I was just wondering so I don't get my head chopped off." She looks away.

Mikoto raises an eyebrow and shrugs. "No matter. We are fighting now. We can recapture her later." She picks up her Zweihandler and swings it at another enemy and the rest get back to fighting except Natsuki.

"I'm going to go look for her." She says and darts off into the woods.

* * *

Shizuru hops over a fallen tree that had been torched with flaming arrows and lands on her bare feet wiping the black soot from her hands. She starts to run again towards the top of the formation where she knows the Roman leader will be hiding. She runs out into a clearing and slows to a halt at the huge line of catapults. Roman catapults. Shizuru wastes no more time and runs through them earning protest from the workers she ran into but she did not care. All she cared about was her chance at freedom that was almost knocking at her door. The General's flag finally appears in her line of sight and she breaks into a full sprint until she reaches the armor clad guards who stare at her strangely but ignore her as she is not the Shizuru anyone would recognize. An incredibly young man jumps off his horse and walks over to her.

_'This is the general?" _Shizuru questions inside her head due to the mans armor which had a blue wolf head on it.

He removes his helmet revealing familiar white hair and evil grin. "Hello Viola." He chuckles. "We've found her. Pull out." He mount's his horse and rides away.

Shizuru stands there in disbelief. _'Nagi Dai Artaii is the general of my legions...and is trying to rescue me?' _ She raises an eyebrow at the fact that the very man that had sent her here would now be her one way ticket home. She is so busy in thought that she doesn't notice the strong hand pull her up on his horse and ride away towards the Roman camp.

* * *

Natsuki runs as fast as she can after the Roman's without being spotted. _'I have a very very bad feeling about this...Shizuru be careful.' _She takes cover behind a fallen tree to avoid the watchful gaze of a centurion who was standing just about 5 feet away from her. Less than her own body length. The older battle hardened man walks off leaving Natsuki with a choice of whether to take a detour and risk taking too long or go straight ahead and risk being seen. She weighs her options and decides to move onward. A big mistake on her part, as soon as she exits the cover of the woods she runs out in front of an entire legionary cohort.

"Gods why me!" She sprints away from the pilum that fall all around her one flying over her shoulder and cutting her cheek with its pointed barb. She dive rolls over a log and slams her back against it to make herself less likely to be hit. Several more Pilum stab into the ground in front of her one landing right between her legs causing her to nearly jump out of her own skin.

Eventually the aerial bombardment ceases and she breaks from cover into a full sprint headed for the generals unit again breaking from cover in front of an enemy unit. This time heavy cavalry. _'I can't outrun them...' _She thinks to herself and holds fast. "Come at me you cowards!" She screams drawing her short sword. The soldiers take the bait and charge at her with their spears pointed directly at her, Natsuki breathes slowly. "3, 2, 1..." She ducks down below a spear belonging to an enemy soldier and grabs the butt solidly enough to pull him off of his horse and her onto it at the same time. She digs her heals into the horses sides making it run. She turns around at the force still charging at her, thankfully she was faster because of her lighter armor and weight. She smiles and rides into the forest once again in search of her Roman captive.

_To be continued..._

* * *

**AN: Thanks for reading this chapter... If this story's popularity doesn't rise at least a little bit I may remove it from the site but that's a definate may. I really love this story and would love to continue it, and if anybody really really loves this story than I can give them updates on it through PM even if I remove it from the site. Or I can E-mail them a file with the completed product. However that is not something I will decide based on reviews, favorites and followings. I will also include visitors and my own personal interest based on each chapter.**

**I love all of my reviewers but I want to give special thanks to:**

**GrimaThanEvil: For being the first reviewer and also the author of a few of my favorite stories which I haven't gotten the chance to put on the list.**

**Romanica: For giving awesome feedback and really making this a better story. **

**peanutcello: For being at least in my opinion my stories Registered biggest fan.**

**Shadowcub: For giving short but informative reviews that make me view points that even I didn't think of.**

**Noah114: For giving me very positive responses all the time.**

**Epsi: For being an awesome goofball and being my stories Non-Registered biggest fan.**

**Twenty-six whitewave: For making me feel good about this story again after I lost interest for a little while. And thank you for calling me smart, the truth is I write this with a geography book on one side and a roman history book on the other.**

**ZonaRose: A simple review that said all I needed to know about how you feel about this story. **

**and lastly: Thank you to all my reviewers who supported me while I was in the hospital. It literally made me cry and ruin my girlfriends favorite shirt. I love you guys a ton. XOXO for everyone. **

**Sorry for the huge word count in the authors note but I felt this should be done. Read and Reviewｰ -Chizu**


	8. Purgatorium

**Tales of the Violii**

**Purgatorium Manet Lapsis**

**AN:Okay so two chapters in one night. though it was fitting... I may actually do this every time I do a Nina/Erstin chapter right after a Shizuru/Natsuki chapter Story length is expected to extend as I now have Two major plots to finish along with a few flashback chapters and an epilogue(Maybe) Read authors note in previous chapter. **

* * *

Erstin rushes out of the market she was trying to sell things in at the sound of screams from where she had just left Nina and runs up to a ladder and uses it to scale the wall of someones home. Once on top of the wall she starts to run across the roofs of the buildings and jump in between them. In the middle of one of her jumps she feels an excruciating pain in her chest. She grunts in pain as her body slams into the wall of the building and crashes through a box of oranges. A young woman, roughly in her late teens rushes over to see if Ers is okay.

"Are you okay?" She asks in Egyptian. Ers nods and tries to stand up, but it doesnt last as the woman who was helping her to her feet fell on top of her pinning her down with her weight. Ers shoves her off and crawls over in too much pain to stand and looks at the womans blank eyes.

"She's dead..." Ers gasps as nearly every person in the area keels over dead. She coughs and grips her flaming chest. "Nina..." She struggles and drags herself across the sand to the central street and looks up at Nao standing above a group of dead civilians laughing and kicking a body. Nina's body.

Erstin feels tears well up in her eyes and stands to her feet anger as well as sadness blocking out the pain of her soul being torn asunder. She draws her dagger and charges at Nao who is too caught up in watching people suffer to notice.

Ers thrusts her blade into the red haired womans back but it barely makes a dent in her bronze armor her Inertia knocking Nao and herself to the ground. Nao starts to chuckle.

"What's wrong? Mad because I killed your girlfriend." She takes out her claws and sweeps them across Erstins nose and eyes cutting deep gashes in her cheek forcing her to double back. Nao takes this oppoutunity to kick the busty blonde off of her and pull her soul gem out of her pocket. "And now you die." She attempts to activate the green gem but it only starts to glow before going dark again.

Nao looks down at it in surprise. "Full already? Damn. guess you got lucky this time." She picks up her shawl and throws it back on running through the streets killing an occasional guard who tried to interfere.

Erstin stares up at the sky blood dripping down into the sand and tears flowing free from her face. "I'm sorry...I couldn't stop her...You died for nothing..." She places her hand on Nina's. "I'm so sorry..." She says before losing consciousness.

* * *

Miyu Greer slowly stalks through the town of Jerusalem holding a little girls hand. The girl has her blonde hair tied into pigtails and Miyu wears hers shoulderlength and unruely from lack of washing for months. "Alyssa...go find a place for us to stay." She says letting the girls hand go and continues on towards the town square to see what all the commotion was about.

When she arrives there are already about two dozen guards there inspecting the bodies. She tsks and pushes her way through the crowd to the guards who she simply walks past and kneels down next to the unconscious Erstin and Nina. She sighs. "They're both still alive." She picks them both up with one arm each easily being much taller and stronger than both and carries them off much to the disdain of the town militia and citizens who were just trying to figure out why so many had died all with no visable wounds.

A few minutes later Miyu takes them to the house that her small companion had found for them to stay in and sets them both on the floor before sitting down in a wooden chair and falling asleep to Alyssa's singing.

_To be continued..._

* * *

**AN:Sorry about the really short chapter. More of an interlude than anything. Next chapter will be a Nina/Erstin chapter as well and then the next two will be Natsuki/Shizuru. **

**R/R-Chizu**


	9. Rider of the Desert Sands

**Tales of the Violii**

**Rider of the Desert Sands**

**AN: Having a ton of writers block lately. Probably because of sleep deprecation or maybe my pain pills but either way, I will get chapters out ASAP, also looking for a beta, if anyone is interested I'd gladly take you into consideration.**

**Now on to the story**

Fire, smoke, noise, that's all there is. Once there were tall buildings, but they had since been engulfed in flames. 10 year old Nina Wong hides in a corner sobbing over her fathers charred corpse. She feels a hand placed on her shoulder startling her to the point she falls over and faces the figure. "Nao..." She says softly is her high prepubescent voice.

Nao smiles and holds out her hand. "Come on we have to get moving little one." She picks up Nina and takes off flying the balls of her feet the only part that touches. A group of Romans tries to block them off but Nao is too quick and slides into an alley rolling forward for ease of getting back up and running.

Nina holds the older girl tightly her cries having gone silent. "Nao...what's going on..." She says monotonously.

Nao sighs and sets her down. "We have to leave. Carthage is no longer a safe place for you to be...My sister."

Nina jolts up from her sleep her breathing ragged and sharp. "I told myself I'd never think about it again...but here I am, dreaming about it." She reaches up to adjust her collar but it isn't there. She suddenly realizes she is completely nude and in the same cot as Erstin. "What the hell happened..." She looks around and turns to face the blank stare of a silver haired woman with piercing red eyes.

"I see you are awake." The woman stands her cloak falling down to nearly touch the ground. "You are lucky I found you when I did or you both would most likely be dead. " She takes a step forward looking down at Nina. "You had your soul sucked out. I brought it back to your bodies, but you will have to rest for a while so I would advise laying back down. " she pushes Nina down gently.

"Just who are you?" Nina asks skeptically, not sure if she trusted the woman in front of her.

She takes off her hood. "My apologies, I am Miyu Greer, the Rider of the Sand. Lady Wong." She kneels down and bows her head to Nina.

"That's a name I'd rather forget." Nina says grinding her teeth roughly. "I am not royalty anymore, and I don't want to be so please. Skip the titles." She tries to lift her arm but a sharp jolt of pain stops her.

"Your arm is broken. I wouldn't recommend moving it any time soon." Miyu says standing up and walking over to the blonde child asleep on the floor. "Alyssa. Time to go." She says with a small smile but her eyes are still blank. The blonde girl holds onto Miyu's hand in her sleep and mumbles softly.

Nina sighs and looks at Erstin who's well endowed chest had been exposed due to Nina's shifting. Her face turns red and she quickly covers her friend. "Sorry…" She stands and puts her clothes back on

Nina holds her arm. "God damn it that hurts." She attempts to move it again with again the same results.

Miyu stares at her again. "Stop that you'll hurt yourself." She stands up and helps Nina finish dressing. Erstin opens her eyes wide and holds her head as if in pain.

"What's wrong?" The jet black haired teenager asks her partner sitting down on the cot.

Erstin blinks a few times. "Nothing why….why am I naked…" She smiles. "Trying to have your way with me while I'm asleep…You evil woman." She chuckles and stands up only to have Nina cover her. "Put your clothes on." She backs off and straps her daggers to her belt.

Miyu looks at them. "You aren't going anywhere. You need to recover." She stands and sheds her cloak showing off her well worked muscles. "You need to recover, or you will never be able to defeat Aracnii." She says bluntly cutting to the chase.

Nina scoffs at her. "Just who the hell asked you?" She glares. "I don't need your advice, what I do need you is to get out of my way and stay there." She takes a step towards the taller woman for effect.

Miyu smiles and laughs softly. " You really are just like your mother." She picks up Alyssa and opens the door to leave. "If you decide to come with me I'm going to Halicarnassus, that's where Aracnii is headed. Meet me at the port." She puts her cloak back on and walks out the door.

Nina sighs and falls back on the bed waking up Erstin again. "Wh-what happened?" She rubs her eyes. "Where's Miyu?" She asks quietly sleep evident in her voice.

Nina smiles. "She's gone to Halicarnassus, Along with Aracnii… Ers…Should we go with her. I don't really want to but…she may be our only ticket to that blasted murderer. " She stands and starts to braid her dirty hair.

Erstin puts on her gear and clothes and raises to her feet. "We should go Nina…The council is relying on us to kill Aracnii. No matter what happens to us…" She hugs Nina from behind. "So let's go with her."

Nina nods. "Very well…." She looks around and holds her broken arm. "Can you make me a cast later?" She asks with a smile. Erstin nods at the slightly older girl.

"I can…I can even make it so it'll match your outfit." She grins and claps her hands.

Nina nods and opens the door walking into the once again busy streets of Jerusalem.

* * *

Miyu jumps onto the boat holding Alyssa in her arms. "I suppose she didn't take it." She sighs. "Oh well as long as I have you." She kisses the young girl on the cheek. The deck creaks behind her and she spins around quickly and smirks at what she sees.

"So you came? Excellent." She lowers her stance and bows to Erstin and Nina. "The ship doesn't leave for another hour. How about I take that time to explain myself?" She sits down and Nina nods impatiently.

"Well lets hear it." She leans forward inspecting Miyu.

Miyu shakes her head. "Not hear. Show." She rolls up her sleeve and shows her tattoo of a wolf head. "I am a member of Duran. I am the Spirit of Duran, the one that even the Harbinger does not know, you the eyes, Erstin, and the ears Nina, should be most honored to be in my prescence, at least you should Erstin, Nina is of much higher worth than both of us." She bows again.

Nina looks at Miyu shocked. "I didn't even know that rank existed..." She looks at Ers then back at Miyu. "So are you higher than the Egyptian?"

Miyu nods. "I am the only rank higher than the Harbinger, but still lower than the hound only due to influence, I could easily beat her in a fight." She stands and excuses herself leaving Nina and Erstin confused.

* * *

Nao leans against the mast of the boat lethargically. "It's so boring not killing people." She kicks off the wall and steps on a dead body. She looks around at her handywork. She had killed all passengers on the boat save for rowers, which she would kill later.

"I hope you came prepared Little sister. I don't want to kill you so soon." She begins to laugh maniacally and flips her cloak seeming to disappear into thin air.

.

.

.

.

._To be continued..._

* * *

**AN: Thanks for reading this chapter, please leave your thoughts in a review please. I miss them :)**

**Anyways, I am not planning on discontinuing this story unless I absolutely loose all interest, even then It'll just have a rushed out of place ending. I really want to finish this. **

**I failed my drivers exam for the eighth time this morning...anybody have tips please PM me, I'm tired of having to make Fei drive 100 miles just so we can go on dates in the next town.**

**Next chapter will be Nina/Erstin centric again. but it will be the last for a while. **

**WOW! Nina and Nao are sisters, who saw it coming? I'm very curious. **

**How does Miyu know so much...about well everything. It'll all be revealed in the next episode of Tales of the Violii.**


	10. Bound By Blood, Divided By the Same

**Tales of the Violii**

**Bound By Blood, Divided By Blood**

**AN: Sorry for the late update guys, my hands have been killing me lately and I just started senior year (yay!) so I'm very very excited...and I've been having some legal issues with my girlfriend, since she's 21 and I'm 17, so yea sorry guys. Also I just got back from Kyoto to see my dying Grandmother...not a fun visit for a few reasons, and lastly my AP English teacher is making us do an essay on the first fucking day! Mean bitch...anyways enough of my excuses onto the gory goodness!**

* * *

Water splashes into Nina's face as the storm begins to grow outside of them churning the waters into a hellish soup. She tightly grips Erstins hand not letting her go for any reason. "Erstin hold on!" She shouts over the crashing waves at her friend who was hanging over the edge of the boat holding onto Nina with both arms.

"Nina! Help me!" She cries out her shrill voice barely piercing through the noise of the storm. Some distance off Miyu stands holding onto Alyssa tightly who despite being in eminent danger does not seem the least bit concerned.

"Miyu come help!" Nina shouts at the silver haired woman who just keeps standing there.

"I'm sorry milady but Alyssa's safety comes first. I must protect her at all costs just like I promised to her mother." She says calmly literally tying herself and Alyssa to the mast of the large Egyptian boat to secure herself and the girl to her front with her face just above her chest.

Nina growls. "Damnit! Erstin hold on!" She tries to pull her friend up desperately.

"Nina I'm slipping!" She cries out as her hands start to slide off of Nina's who's grip on her hand tightens and pulls her up just a bit farther.

"Almost...!" She grunts and pulls Erstin back on board but in the process her inertia causes her to fall over the edge of the ship into the black water below.

"NINA!" Erstin screams at the top of her lungs desperately searching for her friend who had disappeared underneath the waves, after a few minutes of searching Erstin gives up and falls to her knees sobbing. "Nina...please be safe."

* * *

A few thousand miles away Shizuru stands before her fellow Romans in the field of battle.

A spear points at her followed by several other weapons. "What is the meaning of this treachery Scipii!" She shouts at the general Nagi Dai Artaii who starts to chuckle.

"Shizuru Viola Fujino...You are under orders from the emperor himself to stand down and submit to your execution." He hops off his horse and steps closer to her drawing his short sword.

Shizuru looks around trying to appear calm and collected, but her eyes betray her as she looks over towards the now decimated village that once housed the Wolfhounds of Duran and their allies. "You...killed them all..." She stares in disbelief.

His laughter grows louder. "That's right. Well, they are still putting up a fight, but we have destroyed their village, even if they do win they will have nowhere to go. The hound of Duran is destroyed. " He smirks making Shizuru chuckle a little.

"Sorry Nagi, but the Hound of Duran isn't even there." She stands with her hand on her hip confidantly facing her opponent. "Now then. Get on with it!" She taunts him, daring him to even attempt to attack her.

He growls. "Archers! " The sound of bows being strung reaches Shizuru's ears behind her closed eyes. "Aim...Fire!" He shouts just as Natsuki jumps out in front of Shizuru on a horse holding two roman shields. Several arrows hit the horse and it tumbles to the ground ejecting Natsuki towards Shizuru where she does a butterfly kick in mid air and lands in front of Shizuru with both Shields raised with more than just a few arrows sticking through it.

"Shizuru!" She hands her a shield and makes the front part of the tortiose formation. "Testudo!" She shouts at the honey haired general who nods and places her shield on top of Natsuki protecting them from both directions of arrow fire. As soon as the rain stops Natsuki grabs Shizuru's hand and dashes off into the woods at a near super human speed giving Shizuru a very hard time to keep up.

"Natsuki! Slow down!" She says quickly to Natsuki who looks back at Shizuru and notices the Romans not following.

She slows down to a walk and looks at Shizuru. "Are you alright?" She asks with a smile. Shizuru nods.

"Thanks to Natsuki." She leans on the blunette who flares up instantly.

"Sh-Shizuru! What are you doing!" She looks away blushing furiously.

Shizuru stands up off of Natsuki. "Sorry...I-I just...Never mind." She looks at Natsuki just as she takes a step closer to her. "Natsuki...? What are you...Mmph!" Her sentence is cut off as Natsuki's lips connect with hers causing her mind to instantly go blank. Natsuki puts her hands on the taller girl's waist and holds her closer as the kiss becomes more passionate and more heated and before both of them new it they were both rolling in the grass, lips connecting and disconnecting every few seconds.

Shizuru's tongue flicks across Natsuki's bottom lip begging for entrance to which Natsuki eagerly obliges opening her mouth for the older girl her hair falling out of the ponytail she had put it in. Shizuru unfastens her armor and begins to strip.

"Take me Natsuki..." She says softly and straddles Natsuki her clothes falling off her shoulders and onto the ground. Natsuki once again flares up.

"Alright..."

* * *

Mikoto spins around on her sword planting her heel into the skull of a centurion and flipping off of it and kneeing another in the face before falling back onto the ground into a backwards flip and cartwheel over to her sword which she pulls out of the ground and stabs through the shield of another soldier skewering him and another behind him. "You guys never give up do you." She tornado kicks another in the jaw breaking his teeth out and spitting blood onto her face which she quickly wipes off.

"Mai..." Her eyes widen as she realizes what she had forgotten. "MAI!" She dashes off back towards the burning village.

When she arrives she nearly explodes in anger at what she sees. Mai is lying with her clothes torn on the ground next to a burning building knocked out cold. Mikoto rushes over to her and feels her pulse. "That the gods...She's alive..." She takes off her robe and puts it over Mai. "I'll protect you..." She picks up Mai and carries her away from the fire and into the forest.

Mikoto sets her down on the ground. "I'll be back for you." She kisses Mai's forehead before darting off back into the field.

* * *

Haruka crushes two soldiers skulls together squishing both of their brains. "Stupid assholes." She tosses them to the side and turns around to go crush more skulls when she sees all of the Romans around her are backing off fearing for their lives.

"Ha! To scaled to fight me?! Pathetic." She laughs heartily and takes pounds her chest armor denting it.

A path clears in the Roman ranks where a tall heavily muscled centurion steps forward and hold out his hand for Haruka to shake. Being a former gladiator Haruka knows what she is expected to do. She steps forward and grabs his arm just below the elbow as he does to her and gives it a hearty shake. "A fight it is!" She chuckles and steps back and throws her first punch which he blocks and punches her in the gut hard enough to make her gasp for breath and shuffle back.

"You aren't part bad. I'll have to be serious." She cracks her knuckles and lunges at him ready to kill him. She punches him in the face his nose making a sickening crack.

He reels back and starts to throw punches at her, left right hook punches. All which she dodges easily and punches him again in the face and kicks him back into a group of soldiers. "Come on That all you got?" She scoffs and grabs his tunic and punches his throat. " Not even worth the fight." She throws him into another group of Romans and walks off to find someone willing to fight.

.

.

.

_to be continued..._

* * *

**AN: Sorry about the bad ending spot, didn't want to make this chapter run on and on and on so I figured I'd end it there, guess I lied last chapter when I said it was a Nina/Erstin chapter.**

**So Natsuki and Shizuru had their first kiss and other things at the same time, but is it love? I don't know, you'll have to wait and see how much I feel like trolling you guys :)**

**Anyways, please R/R and don't be surprised if I take a while to update.**

**Ugh...court in the morning...I hate this bullshit.**

**R/R-Chizu, 1/3 of the way done.**


	11. Wolves Bloody Paws

**Tales of the Violii**

**Bloody Trail to the Past**

**AN: Sorry for the late update, once again...swamped with homework and other things, trying to work some things out with my mother and pissed off because we can't go to obaa-chan's funeral. Anyways, will be mostly a flashback chapter but it will have present times towards the end. And revealing the hounds true identity...maybe... ;)**

* * *

"Fight!" The instructor commands his two students, one a short brown haired girl with her hair in a bob cut, and the other young 12 year old Natsuki holding a spear behind her with one hand her hair tied up in a ponytail.

Her opponent takes a step forward and shouts at Natsuki trying to get Natsuki to fall for her bluff and back away, however Natsuki is too smart and instead of going back goes forward and kicks the other girl in the chest making her fall onto her back. She takes her opportunity and jumps on the girl pinning her down and draws her dagger and stabs in into the dirt next to the girls ear. "Nice job Natsuki!" The girl smiles and stands up dusting off her clothes. "Well then I'll see you tomorrow." She smiles at the grey haired instructor and runs away to her home.

The man lets out a chuckle. "That girl...Akane... She certainly is something." He sits down next to Natsuki. "So, Natsuki I heard your mother is finally coming back from Gaul. Is that true?" He smiles when Natsuki nods excitedly.

"Yes Mommy's finally coming home!" She says almost a bit too enthusiastically, embarrassed at her outburst she turns her head to the side. "I- I mean yes..." She stutters out.

The old man laughs again. "It's alright Natsuki you can be yourself around old man Abaris, I won't be too strict about anything except that you become a great warrior like your mother, the Shield of Duran." He smiles. "Now hurry and go home so you can greet her when she gets her." He sends her off and sighs. "Poor child..." He turns his back and enters his own hut.

**Several Days Prior**

Saeko Kruger breathes deeply attempting to calm herself. "I can't believe we lost the Sword and The Messenger yesterday...And you were injured yesterday Madame." She turns her head to the woman sitting next to her with a wolf pelt atop her head the fangs hanging over her face which was covered by a partially broken iron mask. She covers her arm which has a shallow wound over it.

"It's just a flesh wound Shield. You mustn't worry so much. I did not become the leader of our tribe by being a simpleton or a weakling, wounds like this would not have stopped Fumi, so they shouldn't stop me. " She takes the mask off of her face revealing an older womans face that had been worn by time and stress for far too long. The only evidence of her youth remaining would be her short blond hair with grey streaks in it. "Now come, we must hurry home, your daughter is waiting." She raises to her feet and turns to face the carnage behind them one last time viewing the dead bodies of both friends and enemies.

"I hope their sacrifices were not in vain. Fumi and Lena... Along with our own." She sighs and motions for all her remaining soldiers to follow her when she begins to walk.

Saeko catches up quickly. "Maria...I'm sorry I couldn't protect her...your daught..." She is cut off by a backfist to the chin sending her spiraling into the dirt.

"Don't even say it Kruger. There wasn't anything you could do about Fumi so just drop it." She begins to walk again.

* * *

The entire village had come out to witness the triumphant return of their warriors, however their cheers fell silent when they saw the huge losses they had taken, out of the five members of the upper echelons of their society that had gone only three had returned, them being the Hound herself, The Shield and The Harbinger, along with nearly all of their supporting soldiers had been killed, only one unit remained untouched and that was the Hounds personal bodyguard. The bodies they had brought back with them numbered upwards of one thousand and the several day long trip through the snow had caused even more men to become ill and suffer the same fate as many of their friends.

Maria takes off her mask and heads to the stage at the center of the town her strides strong despite obviously being very upset and tired.

"Listen to me my people..." She takes a breath and continues. "We lost many of our own this grave day. I doubt a single one of you in this entire village will be unaffected by this massive loss, some of you lost fathers, others mothers, maybe sons or daughters, or even brothers and sisters. I lost my daughter in the conflict. The Messenger and The Sword of Duran now bless unadorned graves...In a hellish land ravaged by barbarians, and Romans alike. We won the battle, and the war, but at what price. We are a war centered society, but how long will we last when we have so much hate." She steps off the stage. "Be glad if your own families are well." She stabs Fumi's sword into the ground and walks away leaving her people speechless and blank.

Natsuki looks around worried that her mother had been hurt at all during the conflict so much that she does not notice said woman reaching around behind her and picking her up by her waist. Natsuki's face brightens a thousand times at the sight of her mothers tired face, her eyes darkened and bruised. "I'm home little pup." She chuckles and kisses her daughters forehead. "Now come let's hear how you've been." She walks into her home holding the little girl in her arms.

* * *

**6 months later**

Saeko blocks a sword coming down over her head with her arm, her armor thankfully stopping the blow from inflicting too much damage upon the tired warrior. She kicks the bare chested man in the chest with her boot a sickening crack coming from him as he falls into the ditch in which many of his allies had also fallen. She backs up into a man who shoves her into the ditch and jumps on top of her and begins to punch her repeatedly.

Just as she is about to faint from pain the but cap of a spear punches through his skull spilling blood on her face. Maria kicks his body off of Saeko and helps her to her feet. "Come Kruger. We are needed elsewhere." She takes off at a full sprint easily outrunning any soldier too stupid to follow her, including Saeko herself.

Weaving through the battle lines and trees Maria reaches her objective just in time to jump over a bush and stab a Gual in the neck with her dagger using her momentum to spin around in the air flipping him by his neck tossing him a few feet. Maria twists her body and pushes off the ground with one hand and does an aerial (handless cartwheel) into another mans back pushing off of him she tackles the enemies warlord to the ground and proceeds to stab him in the gut once before he punches her off of him. He tosses his cape to the side and pulls the dagger from his torso throwing it at Maria who catches it spinning around fast enough to keep the daggers momentum and throws it back at the man. He blocks it with his shield hitting it off to the side so it gets stuck in the back of one of his own men instead of himself.

Maria draws her long single edged sword from her belt and draws it preparing for a face off. She takes a defensive stance. The man laughs haughtily stroaking his long beard. "_beag mac tíre, ar ais síos!" _He shouts at her his face contorting into an arrogant grin. Maria smirks beneath her mask.

"I can't win huh? We'll see about that." She charges at him at lightning speed despite her old age and cuts his throat along with slicing off his beard before he even has a chance to react. She looks around not bothering any further with the now dead man.

"Men...they always assume that we women can't beat them correct. " A young voice says from behind her. Maria turns around slowly. "Elliot Chandler...Am I correct." She asks slowly on guard.

She nods. "That's correct. I've been away for a while now...but I heard about Lena's death...So I'm here to take revenge." She snaps her wrist forward releasing the folded blade in her hand creating a large boomerang type weapon and throws it past Maria over the top of her head and into a group of enemies causing several casualties. She catches the boomerang by a handle.

Maria bites her lip. "This is no place for you Elliot, I would advise you leave here now!" She shouts over the sounds of the battle. Chandler scoffs.

"Is it because you think I'm not good enough to be one of the members of Duran? Is that why. The Messanger, Fumi, is dead, The Eyes Sara Gallagher, is not here, Neither are the ears, Chie Hallard, Lena Sayers, The sword...she is dead too." She pauses for a moment as if in severe agony. "The Shield is a useless idiot who can't even focus long enough to take the battle seriously, The Harbinger Una Shamrock...she is insane, and then there is you...and that strange woman Miyu Greer." She takes a step forward and prepares to throw her boomerang again however she is blocked by Saeko who stabs a spear into the ground directly in front of her.

"Who is a useless idiot." Saeko growls at her. "Because I am certain that I can kill you a hundred times over." She charges at Elliot with her sword drawn and makes contact driving her sword directly through Maria who had stepped in at the last minute.

She coughs blood onto Saeko. "You damn fool, you shouldn't fight those on your side..." She falls over into the dirt.

"Maria...MARIA!" She drops her sword to the ground and desperately attempts to save her. "Damn it! Why?!" She attempts a cardiac thump on the old woman, but it is unsuccessful due to the armor and blood loss and after about ten minutes of attempted revivals Saeko finally realizes her attempts will be entirely fruitless.

She turns her head to Elliot. "Well why are you just standing there..." She stands up and picks up her sword and charges at the woman again. "DIE!" She jumps and kicks her in the face with both feet sending her back into a tree which Saeko immediatly puts her sword into a swing which Elliot barely dodges in time the blade knicking her ear.

"Calm down Shield. You were the one that killed her...not me." She dodges several more strikes and counters by spinning her boomerang above her head and using the momentum spins herself like a top at Saeko forcing the warrior back all the way into a destroyed wall which is where Elliot stops spinning her blade. She brushes her blonde locks out of her eyes and draws a small sword. "Now are you ready to calm down?" She asks cautiously taking a step forward.

Saeko breathes deeply. "I...I'll kill you." She whispers before once again charging at Elliot, this time the close range serves her well as Elliot is not left with any time to react and is stabbed in the throat by the sword. She falls to her knees and back onto the blood soaked land.

Elliot reaches up to the sky. "Lena...I'm sorry..." She coughs out before her arm drops down and she dies quietly.

Saeko drops down onto her knees. "Why...Why...WHY!? WHY GODS!" She cries into the skies.

* * *

**Present Day**

Saeko stands alone atop a ledge looking down at the burned valley where her village once resided. "Nastuki...you have failed me...once again." She sighs and jumps off the ledge down into the valley below. She darts forward to her destroyed village.

"I'm too late..." She looks around and sees Mikoto sitting on the ground next to a sleeping Mai with Chie, Haruka, Aoi, a short brunette that was unfamiliar to Saeko and a few others including Midori, Yoko, and Tate.

"Stand up you worthless dogs." She marches up to them and glares down at them through the slits in her iron mask shaped like a wolfs face.

Mikoto bolts up. "Sir." She salutes and the rest of them quickly realize who it was she was speaking to and stands up.

"Where is Natsuki...and the Violii? Dead I hope." She says sternly.

Chie sits back down and starts picking her teeth with a knife. "Natsuki went off to find her hours ago. I think they're both dead." She spits out a seed that had somehow gotten into her mouth.

Saeko nods. "I will find them." She walks off towards the woods in search of her daughter and the Roman general.

* * *

Natsuki sits up slowly her head hurting significantly. "Where the hell am I..." She looks around slowly and stops suddenly when she spots her mothers figure standing over her.

"Mother!" She scrambles to cover herself and in the process uncovers Shizuru who had been sleeping under her pelts.

"I am very disappointed in you Natsuki...I may go as much to say infuriated. You disobeyed orders, slept with an enemy, and lastly, disgraced the council. From this point forward you will no longer be part of the council of Duran, and as you know the only way out is death. So Natsuki, former Messenger of Duran. Grab my old spear and face me!"

_._

_._

_.To be continued..._

* * *

**AN: Well trying to make up for being late I made this chapter long. I hoped you guys liked it, I really liked finally giving some background to the story. Saeko is the hound so congrats to anyone who figured it out. **

**Anyways as I said before now that schools started chapters will be slower and I may have to put SP Project Sappho on hold for now especially since I just wrote the final prologue chapter. **

**On a better note, my hands are now completely healed, however my skull is not, hopefully it gets better before baseball season! I 3 Baseball! **

**Do you guys feel this chapter was rushed, if so please tell me how in a review or PM, doesn't matter which to me, but reviews are always nice.**

**R/R-Chizu, see you next time.**


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